Arquette Smiles Through Shocking ‘Dancing’ Exit with Hilarious Line

“Dancing with the Stars” fans were shocked when David Arquette was eliminated from the show Tuesday night. The actor who has starred in the scary “Scream” films got axed after his Halloween-themed cha cha with partner Kym Johnson impressed the judges but failed to get enough viewer votes.

But backstage after getting the bad news, David seemed to take solace in the fact that everyone loved his parting line. The hilarious actor had made fun of dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy when he said on camera there must be some mistake about his ousting because “This is MY show!”

David told reporters the pro took the ribbing well: “Maks was like, ‘you did a great job. You should be very proud.’ ”

Judges praised his Monday night dance in which he played a magician and got a score of 24, making him one of the season’s surprising eliminations. But David didn’t mind too much, saying, “It’s been a really positive experience. It’s brought a lot of joy to my life.” The actor implied to XfinityTV that doing “DWTS” was as good as therapy because it was about: “Grace and standing upright, having personal pride, a self-appreciation.”

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“There was a moment this week, actually, where everything went wrong in rehearsal. In camera blocking, I was tearing myself up and it was terrible and I just had to confront myself, like, what are you doing? Why do you do this to yourself? And that’s sort of a behavior you have to recognize. And for all I know, that’s why I did this whole experience, to come to terms with that. Give yourself a break. That’s also the self-abusive part of my personality and sort of negative aspect so to come to terms with that has really been a gift.”

And his dancing days might not be done: “I would love to do Broadway,” he confided.

David didn’t know if his friend Pee-wee Herman is thinking of doing “DWTS,” as a recent report has indicated, but said, “He would be amazing on the show if he wanted to do it. [But] I would let him know how insanely difficult it is.”

And would former wife Courteney Cox ever compete on the dancing show? “I don’t know if she would. I think it would be maybe too much,” he said. “It’s really a lot. You have to really want to challenge yourself.”
But she and their daughter Coco cheered him on every week and now, David said his little girl “will be happy I can take her to school again. That’s what our favorite thing is—[I] pick her up and meet her at ice skating and her play and things like that.”

Meanwhile, David’s fellow DWTS competitors were mourning the loss. J.R. Martinez said, “He kept everyone’s spirits up.” Derek Hough commented, “He entertained us every single day.” Nancy Grace, whom many thought would be eliminated Tuesday night instead of David because of her lower score, said, “I’m really going to miss him.” And her twins Lucy and John have also lost a backstage playmate: “My children loved Coco in the few times they got to play with her.”

Backstage Gossip:

All That Chaz: Pro dancer Derek Hough told reporters Chaz Bono, who was eliminated last week, is having a hard time letting go. The transgender star was hanging out at DWTS this week and Derek revealed, “Chaz was like, ‘it sucks.’ I was like, ‘doesn’t it feel nice to have the pressure off and watch the show?’ and he’s like, ‘no, I [still] want to be on the show.’ ”

Bed of Roses: J.R. Martinez was excited to talk about being named grand marshal of the upcoming Rose Parade in Pasadena (to be held on Jan. 2 next year). “It’s a tremendous honor,” he smiled, sporting a rose on his dance costume. His partner Karina Smirnoff is hoping J.R. can now use his clout to get her New Year’s football tickets: “I want to go to all the games,” she said. But the war veteran laughed of the Ukrainian-born dancer, “She doesn’t even know what the hell football is.” Karina’s more familiar with baseball—her fiancé is pitcher Brad Penny of the Detroit Tigers!

Kardashian Won’t Dish: With his sister Kim Kardashian’s split from husband Kris Humphries making headlines, Rob was trying to say as little as possible about it on the DWTS red carpet. About Kim’s web site posting, justifying her divorce, Rob said, “She’s dealing with it in her own way,” then pretended he didn’t know what she wrote: “Yesterday, we had a show and I went to bed. I have no idea what’s going on.” Has Rob been in communication with Kim or not? Again, there was a K-ontradiction. “I’ve talked to her. She’s obviously going through a lot right now. As you can imagine, it’s probably really tough on her but I’m so busy with the show I don’t even see or talk to any of my family members.” Huh?

Maks Cracks a Smile: Bad boy dancer Maks and his partner Hope Solo were in a rare jovial mood after avoiding elimination. For once, they weren’t in the bottom two and Maks even smiled and joked about the red light hot spot, “We were kind of sad it wasn’t us. We were like, this is our stairs.” Hope laughed to reporters, “Our spot! Right there on the top of the stairs!”